#the quote is from lovecraft country

[bohemian-nights]

Nettles 🐑🐉

[sterlingarcher23]

Willow, Lovecraftian horror and the Thule Society from Hellboy

What does Willow have to do with the master of horror, H.P. Lovecraft, that shaped, actually created a subgenre of the horror genre and the völkisch movements("German ethnic nationalist movement active from the late 19th century to 1945", Wikipedia) like the Thule Gesellschaft (Society), founded in 1911 ?

Probably more than one may think and I wanted to discuss the various elements that illustrate how Willow's villains and its mysterious Order of the Wyrm may have been influenced by these things in this essay.

As a personal sidenote: Even though I haven't read all of Lovecraft's works, I'm a big fan of his works. And yes, Lovecraft was a racist, anti-semite and probably a misogynist too - this traits had a huge impact on his creative work. That is undeniable and I am no fan of this separation of author and art. You shouldn't do that, you need to understand the art and that's only possible if you look at the artist. It tells you some about human nature and how, in case of Lovecraft, his view of the world is reflected in his works - if you keep that in mind you can understand his stories as a cautionary tale of sorts, that the “Fear of the Unknown” is something that resides in many if not in all of us. To identify and sort of equate the author with its art doesn't mean that a creator agrees with his protagonist(s) view(s) but the work itself, what it tries to tell comes from within the creative mind. To quote Henry Ackeley from "The Whisperer in Darkness: Ex nihilo nihil fit. - Nothing comes from nothing. Additionally, as a German it is always difficult to talk about the racist and fascist era and its institutions, movements etc that took over a whole country and lead to such a tremendous loss of lifes.

Before you advance reading, it is A) important to have watched the show (even though I try to put in explanatory notes) and B) it is therefore riddled with spoilers. 

First some definitions

Lovecraftian/Cosmic/Eldritch Horror: “Lovecraftian horror, also called cosmic horror or eldritch horror, is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock.” Wikipedia

Sword and Sorcery: “Sword and sorcery (S&S) or heroic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tales, though dramatic, focus on personal battles rather than world-endangering matters.”, Wikipedia

HIgh Fantasy: “High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot. High fantasy is usually set in an alternative, fictional ("secondary") world, rather than the "real" or "primary" world.” Wikipedia

The Immemorial City, The nameless city/Mountains of Madness & Fallout

First lets take a look at the Immemorial city and its architecture and artstyle. Its huge, stretching into the distance with seemingly no borders as it touches the horizon. The city is gigantic, eldritch and dwarfs every single person in it. One can actually see Elora and Kit walking over the bridge like construction, however they are very small. The monolithic nature of the buildings also look as if they were spawned directly out of a description of one of Lovecraft's stories. Lovecraft liked the use of words like cyclopean, monolithic, eldritch in his descriptions: 

"…curious regularities of the higher mountain skyline – regularities like clinging fragments of perfect cubes…” - “…no architecture known to man or to human imagination, with vast aggregations of night-black masonry embodying monstrous perversions of geometrical laws and attaining the most grotesque extremes of sinister bizarrerie,,,,", At the mountains of madness, 1931

"...only a single mountain-top, the hideous monolith-crowned citadel..", The Call of Cthulhu, 1926/28

And because the Immemorial City is like in a desert like region, an in an almost literal way deserted area which at closer inspection seems lto be more like ashes than sand, you can combine previous descriptions with this:

"Remote in the desert of Araby lies the nameless city, crumbling and inarticulate, its low walls nearly hidden by the sands of uncounted ages.", The nameless city, 1921

He also used the term non-euclidean to describe impossible architecture in which "an angle which was acute, but behaved as if it were obtuse" and while the Immemorial City is rectangular, pyramidic, using straight lines that are only balanced out by the curves of the gigantic statues, this might be the concept artists and creatives way of combining both the Lovecraftian architecture with the Art Deco style of the early 20th century.

The Immemorial City in the show & concept art by David Freeman

The statues and heads that are part of the architecture of the Immemorial City remind of Art Deco statues you can find for example in New York, the Atlas statue on 5th avenue or the faces on the building of the 20 Exchange Place, Those are also a typical style used in the Fallout franchise, especially in Fallout 4 (some of the faces appeared already in Fallout 2).

This design choice of using Art Deco, giant statues and stone or metal faces is interesting as Fallout built up some eldritch/Lovecraftian background itself and connected it with the architecture. One can find one of those heads in the depths of the so-called Dunwich Borer, a clear reference to Lovecraft who wrote a story titled "The Dunwich Horror". So, like Willow does it visually, Fallout connects Art Deco style with Lovecraftian horror elements by name. Cosmic horror in a fantasy show? Yes and there are more clues, including one in the very name of one of the characters, that support this. Like the Fallout franchise, the creators use visuals and names that link them to HP Lovecraft.

It is indeed interesting that the names of the two cities, the Nameless City and the Immemorial City strike a similar tone as well.

This site with concept art of the Immemorial City by David Freeman is very interesting.

In the name of Hastur: the Wyrm and the Great old Ones

The Fallout franchise, a post apocalyptic video game and now TV-show series  is making advances to build a cosmic horror background (the Youtubers SinisterHeart and EpicNate talk about this) by using names from the Lovecraft universe, some similar architectural elements and add some eldritch elements and beings to it (like the Interloper) - so does the TV-Show Willow:

Hastur, also known as the Unspeakable One, He-who-must-not-be-named, or the King in Yellow, is a Lovecraftian deity originally created by Ambrose Bierce and while in Bierce’s work Hastur is more benevolent, in the Lovecraft-universe he became one of the malignant cosmic beings of the Cthulhu universe, God-like creatures beyond man’s capability to understand them. "Hastur is defined as a Great Old One, spawn of Yog-Sothoth, the half-brother of Cthulhu". He is amorphous and uses avatars such as the King in Yellow. The Nameless City is Hasturs realm. And coincidentally Hastur is the surname of the rulers of Galladorn - its probably no coincidence that this name was chosen especially since Graydon, son of King Zivian Hastur, has a history of being either possessed or some truly evil part of Graydon is hiding inside - the show does not go into details in its first season however the scars on his chest indicate that this is some sort of a magical seal to keep evil at bay. Did Graydon release something by accident, did he read the wrong books or was it something in his family that may have awaken some day.

And, Graydon can read "Pnakotic", the language of the Wyrm which is another nod to Lovecraft and the "Pnakotic Manuscripts" he mentions in his stories.

The big plan?

It is indicative that King Zivian wants an “allegiance” with Tir Asleen by marrying his son to Kit Tanthalos but that he also “convinces” Graydon to accompany the group that sets out to search for Airk.

Kit is the descendant of Bavmorda, the evil queen-witch of the film and Sorsha, - Kit's mother, reveals that her mother’s spirit somehow survived in her grandchildren. Which is probably why the Gales, “a group of monstrous creatures, led by The Crone” kidnap Airk in the first place.

The fact that Kit can use the Kymerian Cuirass suggests that she has Fey blood in her as the cuirass was forged by Queen Anabel of Kymeria who was a Fey herself, supernatural beings, of lesser, such as brownies or dyads, or higher fairies like Elves or Elementals.

It's not a stretch to assume that King ZIvian wanted a blood bond as it all points to the so called “Blood of the Six” that is important - what his plan is in regard to the crone is unclear, maybe he has plans of his own, maybe it is all related to the Wyrm. Maybe the goal is an offspring of "special blood" and there is a clue by the end of the first season that this is the case.

There's a brief moment by the end of the season in which Graydon (although he does not have scars) exchanges words with a version of Elora who tells him that she "wants him" at her side. This is pure speculation but King Zivians mysterious plan and "Dark Elora's" offer to Graydon could very well go into a similar direction: an (potentially) evil offspring. Or a child that holds dark powers? It would make sense given that the story of Willow started with a child. Elora. So, a child on the other side of the spectrum would make sense. "It's like poetry. It rhymes.", George Lucas

Even though Graydon was a spare kid and something was done to him or he did to himself, these elements may be connected if a blood bond is truly the idea behind this and some elements point into this direction, Sadly though there are only some vague clues to formulate a hypothesis.

About Sword & Sorcery:

The land described by Robert E. Howard in his Conan the Barbarian is called Cimmeria. In Willow the magical cuirass is called Kymerian Cuirass after the Kymerian Empire - the name has a familiar sound and could have been altered for Willow. Lovecraft drew inspiration from different sources, including Ambrose Bierce who created Hastur and Robert E Howard was coeval with, a friend and penpal of Lovecraft - Howards works were influenced by Lovecraft’s (Yog, a deity worshiped by cannibals in Howard’s Conan universe may have been derived from Yog-Sothoth). Here is a Youtube-video by Atlantean Archive who specializes on discussing books especially by authors such as Howard and Lovecraft who compares both authors. In general the “Sword and Sorcery” genre has some dark, almost horror elements that feel very Lovecraftian. Willow, the film and the show, seems to try to bridge the two subgenres of “Sword and sorcery” and “High fantasy” in my opinion.

The dark elements we see in the Immemorial City itself, the very ghoulish monstrosities that the Gales are and even the Wyrm, but also the focus on the characters and Kit’s quest to save her brother on the one hand, are in my opinion more Sword and Sorcery, while the adventure of a group of misfits, the need to save the world in the process feels more like the High Fantasy we know from Tolkien.

Dungeons and Dragons itself is no stranger to combining the subgenres, depending on the setting but also with creatures such as Mindflayers that are very Lovecraftian.

Lovecrafts idea was: you either die or go insane, you cannot beat those monstrous beings. Robert E. Howard on the other hand was on the side of “You can choose your path and beat the monster with a giant sword”...by Crom.

The fact that the creators decided to use the name “Hastur” and connect it to Graydon’s mysterious past in which he turned evil and killed his brother, the Immemorial City with its eldritch architecture, the fact that for example the Fallout franchise does something similar: Lovecraft's works have potentially inspire Willow a lot.

Lets talk about the Wyrm next and about the Order of the Wyrm in the following chapters.

The Wyrm

Potentially the Wyrm was inspired by an old Irish deity called Crom Cruach, an ancient God of fertility who demanded the sacrifice of first borns in exchange for a good harvest.

He later became a much more demonic creature in most stories that was defeated by Saint Patrick and ultimately found his way into modern culture for example as the namesake for Crom (who otherwise more akin to Odin), the patron deity in Robert E. Howard’s “Conan the Barbarian” the titular hero worships, or as the villain in the novel “The Hunter’s Moon” by O.C. Melling in which he is called “Crom Cruac, The Great Worm”.

Very interesting is this mentioning of Crom Cruach use in the Villains Wiki: "In Pleasure of a Dark Prince by Kresley Cole, Crom Cruach is the main antagonist, with the ability to infect beings with a mad need to sacrifice whoever they love most."

This description feels as if “Pleasure of a Dark Prince”  could have been taken as an inspiration for what happens to Airk.Especially in conjunction with the myth of the sacrifice of the first borns to the original Irish god of the same name: that Graydon kills his own, older (first born) brother and Airk is a first born himself. This is proven by the dialog between Airk and Kit in which he points out that he is the older sibling and Kit confirms this “By like a minute.”  Airk is a first born who was “infected” with the “milk” of the Wyrm and seduced to “sacrifice” those he loved if necessary by fighting and killing them especially when he is additionally possessed by the Crone. And one could say that Graydon, whatever made him do it, “sacrificed” his own brother. It all points to first borns that are sacrificed and the second borns that are actually important.

Which is rather interesting because both Graydon and Kit are second borns, their older siblings were sacrificed, Dermot killed by his younger brother and Airk turned to serve the Wyrm.

And of course the list is not complete with the Necronomicon a fictional book created by Howard Philips Lovecraft as a lesser god below Shub-Niggurath and is describe generally this way in the Villains Wiki:

Crom Cruach was originally envisioned as a god hidden by mists, represented as a gold figure surrounded by twelve stone or bronze figures. Crom Cruach's countenance is akin to that of a demonic snake or monstrous worm (possibly referring to a Wyrm or a Wyvern, a type of dragon).

The Order of the Wyrm, Thule Society, 3rd Reich-symbols and Hellboy

Chants & prayers

In the story “The Nameless city” there is another element that piqued my interest, a line: “That is not dead which can eternal lie/and with strange eons even death may die”. Having a familiar tone to the script that Graydon reads aloud after which an earthquake happens. At this point it seems as if it was just the typical “Dont-read-from-the-book” moment we know from films like The Mummy, 1999. However if we think ahead and of Graydons mysterious past, whatever it is his father and Dark Elora may want from him by forming alliances as talked about in previous chapters, then these things start to from a pattern that further point to Graydon’s importance for the plot.

Furthermore if you are familiar with “A song of Ice and Fire”, you may know the words “What is dead may never die” by the folks from the Iron Islands who worship a drowned God - clearly GRR Martin is referencing Cthulhu.

Yet again a piece of Lovecratian horror in fantasy and the creepy chants, sayings, prayers of spells are all very similar

“That is not dead which can eternal lie” - Lovecraft

“The Eternal One … stirs his deathless slumber”, Willow - The Order of the Wyrm

“What is dead my never die”, GRR Martin

And of course: Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn - In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.

Joachim Kerzel (the German voice actor for Anthony Hopkins) speaking the words in the audio book adaptation of Der Ruf des Cthulhu / The call of Cthulhu

The order of the Wyrm - Hellboy & The Thule Society

The Order of the Wyrm, whose members “...worshiped an ancient blood magic, the Wyrm. The Wyrm was imprisoned a long time ago beneath the surface of world, and it waits, sleeping, for its acolytes to release it.”, they started as a small cult in Cashmere but at some point they kidnapped the princess of Cashmere, indoctrinated her so that she transformed into the Crone. They did something similar to Bavmorda, mother of Sorsha and grandmother of both Airk and Kit. The cult shares some interesting symbols with the symbols used in the Third Reich and the so called “Thule society”.

The Thule Society was founded in 1918 in Munich as a secret society, it was based on the “völkische Bewegung”, the völkisch movement, a German ethnic nationalist movement that started in the late 19th century and was active until 1945.

“A primary focus of the Thule Society was a claim concerning the origins of the Aryan race. In 1917, people who wanted to join the "Germanic Order", out of which the Thule Society developed in 1918, had to sign a special "blood declaration of faith" concerning their lineage.”

Due to its occult background this led to some conspiracy theories even though the Nazis suppressed after 1933 - it has been argued that it found its way into the NSDAP. Its beliefs were mentioned in Alfred Rosenberg's books, the leader of the Foreign Policy Office and Hitler’s first ideologist, as well as in the ideas of SS-Leader Heinrich HImmler who -unlike Hitler- was fascinated by the occult and mysticism. (Which means Indiana Jones is talking nonsense but I guess the name Hitler is better known than Himmler).

It looks as if the typical rectangular Swastika was fused with the more round shaped version of the Thule society to give it a very familiar look - round shaped elements also could be interpreted as sickle and evoke an association to some sort of harvest.

If you make a connection between the symbols of the Nazis and the Thule society as potential inspirations for the symbol of the Order of the Wyrm, with the clues we have of the so called “Blood of the Six” which runs in the veins of both Kit and Airk, and Graydon maybe being of interest for Dark Elora due to his blood, it is safe to say that the order is blood-line interested in general. And that the order is the Willow-vers representation of a lineage-concerning, (pre-)Nazi-like order such as the Thule Society.

This is hinted at through Sorsha and the fact that Kit can use the cuirass, making her blood related to Fays. So, the order's interest in this blood line ideology is very much in line with beliefs of the original, historical Thule society.

Germania - Even though it was based on Roman architecture, the right out crazy plans of Albert Speer and Adolf Hitler of a Welthauptstadt (World capital) with some similar elements we see in the show (instead of some sort of tanks according to images, there are human figures in the concept art) and a central big hall, like a huge temple you were supposed to “worship” the Nazi ideology, a building so insanely large it would have had its own climate, is echoed in the Immemorial City as well.

In Hellboy, the 2004 film by Guillermo del Toro, one of the central focus points is the Thule Society under Karl Ruprecht Kroenen (btw in the comics the spelling is “Ruprect” which is incorrect) who helps Rasputin to unleash the Ogdru-Jahad, the seven Gods of Chaos.

These beings were among others inspired by the Outer Gods/the Great Old Ones by HP Lovecraft and the Jörmungandr, the world serpent from Norse mythology that is directly connected to Ragnarök, the end of the world, killing the old gods but also dying in the process and lay groundwork to new life. 

Hellboy is yet another plot that, similar to Indiana Jones, has Nazis as the antagonists that seek power in occult objects and means to reach their goals. This connection, the occult, the Thule society which used the Swastika back in 1919 already, and the Order of the Wyrm that uses Nazi/Swastika like symbols is indicative of what influenced the show “Willow” aside from Lovecraft.

Yet another interesting fact is that in the Roleplaying Game “Vampire - The Masquerade”, there is a so called “Order of the Wyrm (Vampire the Masquerade)”, centered around a tome penned by Abdul Alhazred - Abdul Alhazred, a character invented by HP Lovecraft, writer of the infamous Necronomicon. The Wyrm in “Vampire - The Masquerade” is the “incarnation of destruction and misery that will one day swallow the world”.

“If magic is the bloodstream of the universe, the Wyrm feeds on it.”, Willow Ufgood

Conclusion:

These elements make up the world building of Willow: In sometimes subtle and sometimes very obvious clues, symbols and architecture, combining the myths of Lovecraft, the Sword and Sorcery of Robert E Howard, the high fantasy of Tolkien (since Lucas originally wanted to make Lord of the Rings), a certain blood lineage ideology of the Thule society and its imagery which is echoed in the symbols Order of the Wyrm etc. These things follow a clear pattern. It is a vast and much richer universe, filled with potentially endless wonders and horrors, made by a creative team that probably had a large variety of inspirations on their desks.

As I would say about any other analysis that I made. If I can find it, professional writers in Hollywood can find it and very likely brought those ideas already with them when they expanded the Willow universe. Like us they read novels, comics, play RPGs, and video games, watch TV and movies. - Ex nihilo nihil fit.

And these potential connections, inspos etc may offer some clues into which directions the Seasons 2 and 3 of Willow were supposed to go thematically.

PS: I heard in the Save Willow Cast - Podcast on Spotify that Jon Kasdan said that he based the Wyrm and the Order of the Wyrm on Lovecraft.

[velvetcider]

I need to talk about the Dagon movie

This horror movie is so campy, so insane, and so amazing that my friend and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it or quoting it.

There's no point in the movie where it stops getting insane, and I love it.

The film was released in 2001 by Flimax, a Spanish production company. First shown in Spain. This information becomes important later.

It's loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft's Dagon and Shadow Over Innsmouth.

The Great/Weird Parts

This is a real interaction in the movie: "Fuck Dagon!" "Yes, and their child will be immortal!" "Yeah, but there's a catch. It has to live the rest of its life as some kind of half-ass fish of the sea." "In joy, with Dagon!"

You can't make this shit up. This was a real interaction written and acted by professionals.

The fact that the film keeps making you think "What the fuck?" as it progresses.

This film was made when we were still figuring out special effects and it shows.

There was a scene where the crazy old man (his words not mine) says "I am boy" and then his face morphs into his childself as the scene transitions to the past. My friend and I quote "I am boy" almost every day.

There's a scene where the main character (mentioned to have never learned Spanish) was speaking to the innkeeper in pseudo-Spanish (aka, putting an -o at the end of regular English words) and the innkeeper kept glaring at him without speaking.

The gore in this movie is grotesque.

I liked how the Innsmouth people all looked different (i.e. different stages of transformation).

The music was amazing and got me wanting to chant along.

What I Was Confused By

The movie puts Innsmouth (Imboca) in Spain, alright? The main characters are English-speaking so I'll assume they came from an English-speaking country. The main character wears a Miskatonic University shirt, an American university in Lovecraft's stories. I am mildly confused about why they made it a Spanish town. Was this a way to make the fishmen more "mysterious?" Maybe the version I watched made those changes and the original was all Spanish? I have no idea. It's just a weird detail I can't stop thinking about. I should mention that the Imbocans (or at least the "higher" class ones) spoke both Spanish AND ENGLISH. There were no subtitles (not including the ones in the stream) in the one that I watched unless the subtitles I used didn't translate the Spanish. I mildly know Spanish so I was able to understand a bit of it. Unless I didn't watch the original version, the main characters spoke English while the Imbocans spoke mostly Spanish in a film made by a Spanish company, so you'd think they'd make the main characters also speak Spanish.

I don't know, it's just a weird detail that my brain can't ignore. Am I offended? Am I mad at this? Am I not bothered by it? I honestly don't know.

Conclusion

Nevertheless, this is a great movie to watch with friends, even if you don't know the stories they're based on. It has gore, it has nudity (no fullout sex scenes), and it has heavy topics, so keep that in mind when watching.

[bungou-stray-dogs-archive]

John Steinbeck card - New Year's Greetings

Leader skill - Pulling in the New Year Increase the Guild atk 50% Raises special type hp 40% Reduces Crimson enemy dmg 10% Active skill - Mhm, not bad. Would you care to try it? Deals x10.5 Emerald dmg to an enemy Reduces Crimson enemy dmg 25% for 2 turns Sub-skill 1 - I wonder what my siblings are doing right now... Activates when a Guild character is in the team Reduces enemy dmg by 75 for 1 turn (100 at lv.5) Sub-skill 2 - Nice weather for the start of a great new year Activates when the marble hits the wall 38 total times (34 at lv.5) Completely fills beatdown gauge Memo John S. celebrating the New Year while dressed in his New Year's outfit. He and Lovecraft look to be visiting a shrine. He tests his luck by pulling an omikuji fortune slip. He walks the grounds with an arrow talisman he purchased in hand, enjoying the start of a new year in a foreign land. Quotes "Ah, so this is an omikuji fortune. You check your fortune by choosing one of the many fortune slips... Hmm, I'd like to get enough fortunes for my family back home, but is it okay for me to pull slips for them?" "Lovecraft, did you buy something...? Haha, that is just like you. But seeing as how we have the chance to interact with a foreign culture, let's walk around a little longer." "Greeting the new year in a foreign country isn't too bad. This outfit they call a "kimono" is particularly novel. Just walking around in it is so fun." Affiliation: The Guild Emerald affinity Atk: 1524 (Max) | 181 (Base) Hp: 9027 (Max) | 969 (Base) Special type

He's available from the New Year scout (EN & JP)

[freckolocation]

a post about signalis, a game i haven't finished, and how it feels to be haunted by a piece of art

(no spoilers save for a few quotes from the first hour or so)

the other day i asked a friend of mine if they'd ever felt like they'd been haunted by a piece of media. they told me about some experiences they had but nothing quite matched the way that signalis has affected me. this post is an expanded version of what i told them

i had heard whisperings about signalis around its release last year, and in march or so of this year, having recently finished the dead space and resident evil 4 remakes, i was itching for more horror. i picked signalis up in mid-april of this year and according to steam i have not played it since the 17th of that month. i played about five hours total

the first few hours were amazing, and with the exception of the dead space remake a few months prior, i don't know how long it's been since a game has sunk its teeth into me that deeply. everything about it was immediately fascinating to me--the world, the art, the design, the atmosphere, the soundtrack, the characters, the themes, the writing, the gameplay, everything

but the latter few hours were extremely frustrating, as someone not familiar with the more classic survival horror style. the combat is relentlessly punishing and the inventory system is brutally restrictive, and i wasn't approaching the game in a way that made it anything less than infuriating, as i didn't know how else to play

by the end of those five hours i didn't understand why it was garnering such universal acclaim. despite the world and atmosphere being unlike anything else i had ever seen, so uniquely tailored to my tastes in science fiction and horror and visual style, i found it incredibly laborious to play

ultimately, i assumed it just wasn't for me, and i decided to drop it entirely

but those first few hours were so gripping i couldn't stop thinking about it

there are a fair amount of literary references in signalis to works such as those of h.p. lovecraft, as well as an explicit reference to robert w. chambers' short story collection the king in yellow, a copy of the book sitting on a desk in the introduction. the collection is named after a fictional play mentioned within several of the stories, the second act of which would drive the reader to madness, the very first lines so captivating that the reader would feel compelled to continue

such a concept feels a bit too familiar, in retrospect.

i read what other people had to say about signalis. what their thoughts were on the things that frustrated me. i watched an entire half-hour review of it, and i began to understand that others found it just as enthralling as i did, and were simply approaching the gameplay differently, with more care and patience

and only a few days after deciding to give up, i decided that i hadn't given it the fair shake i thought i had, and that i would give it another shot

...but i still haven't opened it since i first decided to give up on april 17th.

a few days ago i came across a song: "no station" by the band 65daysofstatic, from their 2005 ep hole. the song prominently features a sample from the lincolnshire poacher numbers station, which operated from the mid-1960s to 2008. the transmissions, like those from most other numbers stations, began with something called an interval signal--in this case, a few bars from "the lincolnshire poacher," a traditional english folk song. a synthesized voice then recites a formatted string of numbers, purported to be encrypted messages for intelligence officers operating in foreign countries

there's a specific station that i think of any time i hear a transmission from a numbers station--one believed to have operated out of hungary from at least the cold war until 2005, known as the three note oddity. like the lincolnshire poacher, the three note oddity was named for its interval signal: a series of three rising tones, after which a synthesized voice would state "achtung! achtung!"--german for "attention! attention!"--and proceed to recite the numbers, also in german

a transmission from the three note oddity plays in the main menu and during the end of the intro to signalis, and it was the first time i had heard it.

a few days ago i rewatched blade runner 2049 with a few friends. it's one of my favorite films, and like the first, it deals with aspects of humanity in synthetic beings created by humanity, in humanity's image, to serve humanity

signalis has a similar concept, and similar themes.

when you are made aware of things in relation to a piece of media that affected you, you begin to notice things you may not have paid attention to otherwise

now i'll see a youtube video about the king in yellow, or hear the sound of a numbers station, or watch a movie about replicants, and i'll think of the book on the desk, of the three note oddity, of replikas.

i often say that there is too much art in the world i want to experience for me to dedicate too much time to the art i don't enjoy, and yet somehow this game i decided i was done with took such a hold of me that it only took mere days for me to decide it was still worth my time, despite my frustration

...and yet, i still haven't returned to it since the day i gave up, even though i said i would go back.

i think of the tones from the three note oddity and my memory repeats like the station itself

"achtung! achtung!"

as if this game i somehow couldn't bring myself to keep playing is calling me back, compelling me to finish it

there's a line from lovecraft's story the festival near the beginning of the game, an excerpt the protagonist quotes from the necronomicon: "great holes secretly are digged where earth’s pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl."

holes have been dug into my brain, and thoughts that ought to have dispersed have instead invited themselves in

despite the poetic yet haunting nature of the lovecraft quote, the penultimate line at the end of the intro is perhaps the game's most memorable:

"remember our promise."

signalis has dug itself into my head and latched onto my brain, and while it isn't a constant itch, it never completely goes away, and unrelated things keep guiding my thoughts to return to it, as though the game itself is haunting me

the game wants me to finish it, it needs me to finish it

and until i do, every time i hear those three notes, i will feel that calling and the hairs on the back of my neck will stand up

"achtung! achtung!"

attention, attention, it calls

i said i would go back to finish it, and yet i haven't.

but the game itself insists i keep my word.

REMEMBER OUR PROMISE

[pruning-the-minds-garden]

Harry Potter and JK Rowling

Before we get started -

What this post is: a relatively brief run-down with examples of what I have personally dealt with, thought about, and where my ethical/moral compass is regarding this in March 2023.

What this post isn't: a comprehensive discussion of why JK Rowling is considered what she very clearly is.

I'm also going to put a Read More, because a lot of trans people are just fucking tired of talking and reading about this and it's okay if you aren't in the right brain space to deal with this at all.

Introduction

If you still like Harry Potter, if you still get good childhood feels from the world or the fandom, if you like to read fanfiction or post GIFs or quote from the series off the cuff... that's fine. At least, that's fine to me. Your feelings are not inherently an attack on anyone, nor do you need to change them. However, if you materially support the IP - and JK Rowling herself by extension - then you have gone from "I like the way Chick-fil-A tastes" to "I eat at Chick-fil-A" and you need to deal with the ethics of that. If you choose not to care ("no ethical consumption under capitalism, therefore I'll consume what I like without concern for the consequences"), that also is your choice, but I think it's a choice many can and will - and IMO are right to - judge you for. You could make other choices, but you've chosen to make that one, and I think it exists in the realm of things for which a person can be judged.

There are four instructive examples I can think of for this, each illustrating a different part of the basic argument I made above. I'll follow that up with a broader discussion to bring it home.

Example 1: HP Lovecraft / The Cthulhu Mythos

This is an objectively cool mythos and world. Yeah there are parts that are lifted from others, but it is damn neat for those who like subtle, creepy, otherworldly horror and want to inject some hentai-adjacent elements into their fiction.

That said, HP Lovecraft - the author and creator of the whole thing - was a huuuuuuuuuuuuge racist. He wasn't subtle about it, nor ambivalent, nor conflicted - he was just a racist. If you read the source material at all, some of that comes through (the frequency of discussion of "Negroid, Mongoloid and Caucasoid" 'types' just as an easy example, along with the portrayal of native people and non-Christian spiritual practice), but you can create and consume derivative works ("Lovecraft Country," for example) that do not contain or highlight, or that even subvert, those elements. However, some do. You need to be aware of that and watch what you consume, so that you aren't - advertently or inadvertently - supporting white supremacists.

Also HP Lovecraft is, himself, dead. Whenever you consume work in his IP you are not necessarily handing him a few cents of royalties of every dollar legitimately spent.

So, by this point, as long as you aren't consuming the racist parts of the Cthulhu Mythos because they are racist, or doing so blind to their racism, but are choosing instead those derivative works that are better... then I think that's fine.

Example 2: Orson Scott Card / Ender's Game

I think it's safe to say that Orson Scott Card has some, at the very least, controversial views. He voted for Trump in 2016. He thinks Barack Obama is morally equivalent to Adolf Hitler. His writings have been seen as homophobic, and his views as similar to that. He's against same-sex marriage, even now. He grew up in the LDS (Mormon) church and still actively associates with them, meaning that he donates a percentage of his income to the church and a portion of that goes to lobbying efforts for conservative causes and political candidates, as well as supporting a massive and untaxed corporation masking itself as a church. And, as of this writing, he's still alive.

If you buy or consume anything official in that IP, which he still has rights to, you are supporting him and those causes. Utah - largely run by the Mormon church - just outlawed gender-affirming health care for trans youth. Although he did not earn backend profits from ticket sales of "Ender's Game" the success of that movie was still going to determine the marketability of the rest of the IP to movie studios. However, he still makes money from book sales. So, if you buy "Ender's Game" or another of his books new off of Amazon, you are giving him money.

Should you? I don't think you should. Go buy second-hand instead, or something else that won't profit him.

Example 3: Chick-Fil-A

Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A contribute, and continue to contribute, to social causes that are conservative, anti-LGBT, and dedicated to a theocratic vision of America dominated by Evangelical spiritual practices made manifest as government policy. If you go there to buy a chicken sandwich, you are giving their foundation, and those causes, money.

And, there are other chicken places. Whether you think they are "better" is a matter of taste (I prefer Popeye's), but the undeniable fact is that they exist. However, there are some situations where that is not available. For example -

Back in 2002, when I was in college, the only edible on-campus restaurant at a price I could was Chick-fil-A. At the time I didn't know what I was contributing to, but if I did I still might have eaten there some days because it was the only acceptable option. There are many others who live in analogous situations, whether on a campus or in a food dessert. However, now that I know, I choose other restaurants whenever I am able. Chick-fil-A is a food of last resort.

When others have bought Chick-fil-A for me, I've opted to not eat it. Now that I know their legacy, I cannot contribute to that and the only way to get through to people who'd buy it for you anyway despite knowing the aforementioned is to waste their money by not eating it. If they see that, they'll stop spending it, and although they'll keep eating there you will cease to be a part of the moral math.

Example 4: Proctor & Gamble Corporation

P&G own some of the most recognizable brands in the world - Charmin, Crest (toothpaste), Dawn, Oral-B, Downy, Gain, Pampers, Febreeze, Mr. Clean, etc - and they undoubtedly do some stuff at least some of you will find reprehensible. They are one of the last holdouts manufacturing products in Russia, despite the sanctions. They have used and profited from child and slave labor. They do lots of lobbying for and contributing to both sides of the American political aisle.

But, they are also almost impossible to avoid. The list of brands they own means they have an effective monopoly on many parts (dish soap, laundry detergent, etc) of your grocery basket, no matter what brand you buy. So, what is the moral math on buying those products?

The moral math is necessities are necessary. You can and should contribute to causes you care about, but inasmuch as you can't avoid buying these things, you cannot avoid contributing to that degree to those causes. That's just a part of life, and your unavoidable moral footprint that you leave behind on the world. This is the kind of thing meant by "no ethical consumption under capitalism."

So, go ahead and buy the Pampers if that's what you need. Be aware of what you are contributing to as best you can be, and contribute directly to causes you care about where you can, but below a certain threshold it just isn't worth it to worry about that.

Is this Hogwarts: Legacy? No. First, a video game is not a necessity. Second, even if a video game is a necessity in some circumstance (parents managing their children in specific situations, etc), it needn't be that video game.

Conclusion

JK Rowling is not Proctor & Gamble. She's not even Orson Scott Card, and since she's still alive she definitely isn't Lovecraft. She is directly tied into the backend profits of Hogwarts: Legacy (unlike the game's developers, who have already been paid all they are ever going to - buying this game doesn't support them), in addition to the other licensed Wizarding World merch. She has made it clear that she considers the profitability of that IP to be an endorsement of her views, and a license to keep loudly advocating for them. And, she puts her money where her mouth is.

If you buy that game, you are in essence writing a small check to an anti-trans, anti-Jewish hate group in exchange for your wand-slinging. That is the choice you are making. Now, understanding that ruins the magic of the IP for many, and they choose to avoid Harry Potter entirely. That's a reasonable choice to make. It is also reasonable to say "no, you move" and choose to continue to see favorably the things that framed your childhood, while taking an unambiguous moral stance - through not purchasing the game - against supporting transphobia and antisemitism now. But, if you twist yourself into knots in order to justify purchasing the game, know that no amount of mental gymnastics escapes the basic conclusion that you are supporting those things.

If you didn't know before, you know now. I understand that many say "how can you not know?!?" because JKR has hardly been subtle these past few years... but I'm not one of them. You are allowed to not understand things until you do. But, once you do, you are obligated to act on that newfound understanding. The veil of ignorance is gone, so if you choose that now you know what you're buying, and caveat emptor, because (many of) the trans people in your life care about that.

Why does it matter? I agree that Hogwarts: Legacy is hardly the forefront of the fight for trans rights, but it's a small, easy choice you can make, and that many who claim to care about this issue are nevertheless choosing not to make. I have myself already lost friends and had to leave groups over this. I did that because if you can't make that small choice to protect me or my rights, how the fuck do you expect me to believe you'll stand up for me when it matters more? A minor inconvenience is enough to tip your moral scales, so trans rights might not be nothing to you, but they certainly weigh less than a feather on your conscience. Imagine if David Duke or Fred Phelps became a famous author and people were buying games based on their writings. How would you feel as a Black and/or LGBT person? Yeah.

Anyway, here's a map as of five days ago, of where legislation stands in the United States seeking to ban gender-affirming medical care for trans youth.

But go ahead and enjoy your wizard game.

I don't expect people to stop loving the world, but ceasing support for the author ought to be an easy choice for people to make. Experience suggests otherwise, however.

[wyrmfedgrave]

Pics: Notes on Lovecraft's viking translation!

1. Ragnar's real name was Ragnarr ("warrior") Lothbrok ("hairy pants").

He lived in the 800s AD & became King of Sweden & Denmark.

But, most that we know about him is from Norse legends & chronicles written sometime after his death in Northumbria, England - in 856 AD?

But, there was a Ragnar who sacked Paris in 845 AD...

2. Vikings is a 'historical' Canadian TV series filmed in Ireland.

It lasted 6 seasons & has a sequel series Vikings: Valhalla.

Both series are inspired by Ragnar's & his sons's 'lives.'

3. We're lucky to have a few sculptures & other art that help us see what some of the mighty & mythological looked like in ancient times.

Of course, not everyone was so immortalized.

So, 1 of the many goals of professional archaeology...

4. When Ragnar killed his dragon, he was protected from its venom by wearing fur britches dipped in pitch ("coal tar") & rolled in sand...

5. Breeches are short trousers that reach to just below one's knee.

They were popular in Europe during Medieval times.

Now worn for riding horses or as part of ceremonial dress during certain holidays.

6. An epicedium is generally any warrior's death song.

This particular 1 was among the 1st Norse poems to be translated into English.

It's certainly 1 of the most quoted viking tales.

Archaeologists have traced this poem back to Iceland.

This is as far west as his story originally reached.

But, there's also the Krakumal or "The Lay (short heroic poem) of Kraka," Ragnar's 2nd wife.

This was written in the 1100s AD & is thought to come from Scotland.

7. Olaus Wormius's name was actually Ole ("heir of the ancestors") Orme ("worm").

He was a 1600s Danish physician, historian & antiquarian who made important contributions to medical, historical & literary writings.

HPL name dropped Wormius - as a translator of the Necronomicon!

But, Howard thought, incorrectly, that Wormius lived during the 1200s AD.

8. Gothland, Gautland or Geatland is 1 of the 3 historical Swedish lands.

Now, it's divided into 10 provinces.

Geat is Swedish for "they who pour out their seed!"

Read into that what you will...

Beowulf ("bear wolf") is an example of a legendary Geat king.

9 & 10. Oreon & Diminum have, so far, eluded my attempts at translation & my efforts at finding them anywhere that I can reach.

11. The ravenous eagle mentioned here has 2 possibilities:

A. The Jotunn ("ice giant") Hraesvelgr ("corpse swallower") who, could transform into a giant eagle.

Sitting atop Yggdrasil ("Odin's horse"), this giant creates the world's winds by flapping his wings.

Yggdrasil is the World Tree, which 'connected' the 9 worlds.

(This is thought to be the Norse view of seeing the Milky Way at night, when it appears to be a long glowing river or branch.)

But, it has a darker meaning as well.

Yggdrasil is Norse slang for "the gallows!"

Odin gained his 'wisdom' by hanging himself from Yggdrasil.

Yggr ("the terrifying one") is just a nickname of Odin's - as Lord of the Berserkers.

B. The other eagle is Odin himself! As he also has the nicknames of Orn, "eagle" & Arnhofthi, "eagle headed!!"

Woden/Wotan is just an earlier Anglo- Saxon version of "Odin." He was a War God & Protector of Heroes.

This name has been traced back to a Proto-German language, in the form of Wothanaz, "Lord of the Frenzied" & "Leader of the Possessed" - the 'mad' Berserkers again.

12. The Vistula ("slow flowing?") is the longest river in Poland & is an import- ant part of this country's cultural identity.

The phrase "Country Upon Vistula" is a nickname of Poland.

13. The Hall of Odin is Valhalla ("hall of the slain"), where heroes get to fight all day & feast all night!

Warriors where brought here by Valkyries ("choosers of the slain"), who judged which fighter was worthy of this honor.

And here they would remain, all preparing for Ragnarok ("twilight of the Gods") & its final battle - when all of creation would sink burning into the seas...

Luckily, with time, a new Age would appear out of all the destruction.

And, new Gods & mortals would awake to a glorious new dawn.

If this sounds very Christian to you, just remember that these myths were written down in the 1200s AD - 200 years after Iceland (the last holdout of the Norse religion) finally accepted Christianity.

14. The Helsingians are still around! They're the inhabitants of Helsinki, Sweden.

15. Bucklers are small, round, portable shields used as a 2nd weapon!

They were useful for 'stopping' an enemy's sword arm up against their own body!!

Or, to bloody an opponent's nose or blind an eye! It could even parry their blows & hinder their movements.

Weird Bit: The Welsh used small leather shields with a central iron spike called a boss...

How come I didn't see these in Brave- Heart?

16. Herauclus remains stubborn to find, though it sounds like a Norse version of the Latin Hercules!

'Officially,' the Norse Hercules was thought to be Magni, son of Thor!!

He's 1 of the children of Thor's 1st wife Jarnsaxa ("iron dagger") & saves his father when 3 days?/years? old!

Along with very few other Gods, Magni survives Ragnarok!!

But, there's actually a whole bunch of Norse 'men' that could stand in for the Grecian hero:

A. Barbatus, "the Bearded."

B. Batavos, "from the lower Rhine River."

C. Deusonianus, "from the town of Deuso."

D. Invictus, "the Victorious."

E. Magusanus, "the Mighty."

F. Maliator, "the Club Thrower."

G. Saxanus, "of the Mountain."

17. Scarfians originated from Skarphe in eastern Greece. Due to Roman influence, these folk moved to Italy - especially around Sicily & Catania.

From there, these families also moved out to Celtic Gaul - modern France.

There, they fought the Vikings at what would become Normandy.

Though this surname remains rare (a- round 190 people today), Scarfians have spread to the Americas as well...

18. Ragno translates as Rufus, Latin for "red headed."

However, this is not William Rufus - who was King William the 3rd & reigned til 1100 AD, some 250 years after Ragnar's time.

Genetically, red haired folk were found in Scandinavia, Mycenaean Greece & Central Asia...

19 & 20. The Indirian Islands & the Plain of Lano remain deep secrets of history.

Perhaps, in the future, such info will be freely available for comments.

21. "Balder ("hero prince") is best known for his death bringing about Ragnarok!!

But, we're after different game here.

Ragnar seems to imply that Balder is his 'father'!

Of course, this has been done since the Egyptians & Sumerians 1st started this deification & separation of our societies's leaders.

And, the idea has been tried with other Norse Gods - Odin's Volsungs, Frey's Ynglings, etc...

Of course, "Father Balder(!)" could just be a pious exclamation with no other meaning.

You be Forseti ("the presiding one"), judge of the Norse Gods & only son of Balder?!

22. Aelle/Ella was King of North- umbria during the 850s AD.

Hearing that Ragnar had surrendered at Wessex, Ella had the prisoner brought to him.

Then, Ella tortured Ragnar for days. But, Ragnar remained stoically silent.

So, Ella threw Ragnar into a pit of poisonous vipers & Ragnar finally responded - by singing out his death song...

23. The Norse Goddess of Death was usually Hela, the half dead Queen of Helheim.

But, this isn't who Ragnar wants to drink ale with!

Hela only collects the cowardly & those who didn't die in battle.

No, Ragnar is speaking about his personal Valkyrie!

These minor Goddesses of Death controlled who was accepted into the ranks of Valhalla.

The 'dead' champions were needed to help battle the Jotunn during a future Ragnarok.

Anyway, Valkyries acted as servants to the fighting souls of Valhalla.

When Ragnarok arrived , the Valkyries would join the major Norse Gods in their desperate last battle...

[smokeybrand]

White She-Devil

Yo, Kang the Conqueror out here beating up his white woman? In public? With witnesses? My guy, what are you doing? You JUST got your Marvel money! Why f*ck up your whole bag like this??

For the record, i find this entire scenario suspicious as f*ck. Allegedly, all of this started because his white GF saw that Majors was texting a back woman and tried to snatch his phone? After a night of drinking and partying? So he smacked her up and choked her out? In the back of a cab? But she didn't call the cops until the next morning? After Majors had the taxi they shared drop her off at the apartment he owns, by herself, for the night? All of a sudden, after this assault came to light, so many other “witnesses" can attest to Majors being a brutal and violent sociopath? But literally no one has ever said anything about this sh*t, ever? And Marvel cast this cruel monster as the lead to the next three Phases of the MCU, after doing the due diligence and deciding to ignore these troubling accusations? Bro, wat?

Listen, believe all women, sure, but refrain from judgment until these accusations and alleged actions are proven to be true. Jonathan Majors is a big name now. He’s commanding box office hit after box office hit. He’s the big bad of the MCU for the foreseeable future. Mans is king of the hill and cats always like to come for the crown, you know? If ma saw that text, why was she in his phone? Why would he immediately dot her eye with all of the success he’s had? If mans has a history of this sh*t and is known to be this violent throughout the Yale community, why the f*ck haven’t we heard about any of these stories before? Why hasn’t any of his co-stars said a thing about this sh*t? Jurnee Smollett spent tons of time with this man on the set of Lovecraft Country. Not a peep. What about literally all of those cats who were in The Harder They Fall? If Majors has a history of attacking women, why did Zazie Beetz sing that man’s praises when they were on set together? This sh*t doesn’t add up to me.

Plot twist: She recanted! Literally, as i was typing this sh*t out, Majors’ lawyer released a statement that the “victim” in question, recanted her accusations. Dude has two written statements from the woman taking back her abuse claims. This information comes after the lawyer was able to get the taxi footage and an eye witness statement from the cabbie, himself, who was driving Majors and his paramour the night the assault supposedly took place. The b*tch lied, y’all! This is that sh*t i was talking about. Believe women enough to investigate. Respect their truth but definitely seek out THE truth because b*tches be crazy, which is literally this chick’s defense. B*tch said she was having “an emotional crisis, for which she was taken to a hospital yesterday” That's a direct quote! Yesterday being the day of the non-assault. So, because you drunkenly spazzed out on Majors because he was talking to other chicks, a fact you discovered by going through his phone probably without permission, it's okay for you to beat yourself up and try to ruin this man's life? Because you thought “who would believe the word of a hulking black man over a battered pretty white woman? Word? Now watch in a few years ma will come back saying she was forced to recant, that they threatened her or some sh*t and we'll be doing this dance all over again. Bro, it’s dangerous out here. Be safe, y’all. B*tches be crazy!

[nothingenoughao3]

So, I love razzing on Lovecraft as much as the next dude, and it is mostly deserved but I suggest that he might be more okay with our gay little fanfics than we might have thought. In fact, I hazard to suggest that had Lovecraft not died when he did, he would have been okay with works like Lovecraft Country.

In the first place, as I've alluded to in the past, Lovecraft probably wouldn't have seen what we're all doing on AO3 as fanfiction, but as a logical and meaningful extension of the Mythos. He and his writing circle were all fine with others utilizing their ideas in their own ways, so he'd likely just be "Ah, yes, Yog-sothothery, very good" and moved on.

In the second place, for the real controversial take, Lovecraft was hip-deep in the middle of a Redemption Arc when he died.

The letters he sent out in the months before his death show a man in the middle of a great and transformative change. A man who explicitly rejected his "reactionary" (his word) beliefs. He describes his not-so-young self as cringe, embarrassing. In fact, the man himself described his reactionary smugness with the following quote from a letter:

"Holy Hades—was I that much of a dub at 33 … only 13 years ago? There was no getting out of it—I really had thrown all that haughty, complacent, snobbish, self-centred, intolerant bull, & at a mature age when anybody but a perfect damned fool would have known better! That earlier illness had kept me in seclusion, limited my knowledge of the world, & given me something of the fatuous effusiveness of a belated adolescent when I finally was able to get around more in 1920, is hardly much of an excuse ... It's hard to have done all one's growing up since 33—but that's a damn sight better than not growing up at all.

He wrote that on February 7, 1937. A month and a week later, he was dead.

This is why it's perfectly legitimate for people, especially folks directly harmed by the ideas promulgated in his early fiction (folks of color, people of mixed heritage, queers, rural folks, women), to be angry with Lovecraft overall. Because he didn't complete the Redemption Arc. He croaked right in the middle of it, with the majority of his most bigoted work still unrefuted and unaddressed in a public way. That his letters, which show a different side to him, are published privately in extremely expensive collections, while his bigoted short stories and etc. are treated as though they're in the public domain and are freely available, doesn't help much.

I think the instructive, cautionary tale we should all take from Lovecraft is that you cannot put off the Redemption Arc. People will remember you primarily by what you actually say and do. What you could have said or could have done, given more time, is secondary, and a form of fanwankery. I can hypothesize that he would have probably been okay with folks writing trans!Herbert using a strap on Dan Cain, even if he wouldn't have read it himself. But I can't know for sure. No one can. Because he took a dirt nap before he completed his transformation.

And, well, in the third place, if it WOULD make him mad, then maybe we could figure out how to harvest the centrifugal force of him spinning in his grave as a perpetual source of green energy!

sometimes i wonder how lovecraft would feel if he knew a bunch of people years after his death were writing gay fanfiction about his characters. beautiful

[from-books-with-love]

That's the horror, the most awful thing: to have a child the world wants to destroy and know that you're helpless to help him. Nothing worse than that. Nothing worse.

Matt Ruff, Lovecraft Country.

[padawan-historian]

A group of elementary schoolers came to the Zora Neale Hurston Museum today, blending the lessons on slavery, folklore, and afrofuturism with their own dreams and great big thinks about black superheroes, traveling to faraway places (and galaxies), and which ninja moves from Naruto were the coolest.

Several hours later, 19 children and 2 educators are killed not by a "a lone wolf" or a "monster" but by an ecosystem constructed by agents of empire who commodify the lives of the most vulnerable and marginalized members of our communities for profit . . .

These agents will turn their eyes away from the Black, brown, and beige people murdered in Buffalo, Dallas, Uvalde and all the places that didn't make the news. They will mutter "thoughts and prayers" and tweet quotes about healing and peace as they continue to build their wealth on imperial systems that erase history lessons, silence our ancestral identities, erode accessible (and sustainable) mental health services, and stripped away reproductive and social services for communities across color and class lines.

What is happening will keep happening unless we upRoot our miseducated understanding about this Lovecraft country of ours, and start cultivating politics and day-to-day practices that move beyond these poisoned (hu)manmade ecosystems.

[aegor-bamfsteel]

Which countries would you map to seven kingdoms of Westeros?

My primary area of medieval knowledge is France and England, and Spain to a lesser extent. Fortunately, GRRM admits that as a monolingual English speaker, most of his medieval knowledge comes from English sources (though he admitted to having figurines of Peter the Cruel and Henry Trastamara, which interested me because of the parallels between Daeron II and Daemon Blackfyre). Furthermore, GRRM uses parallels from other countries/cultures (Ned’s daughters get Sanskrit names while his name is pseudo-German, the Parisian Oldtown has the Lighthouse of Alexandria aka Hightower in it) often with no regard to where they came from or how they fit, much like the worldbuilding of his fantasy hero, Robert Howard. Many of the world building elements are more stereotypes or taken from pop culture than reflective of real world history (looking at the Dothraki and the Mongols. GRRM used the Pax Mongolica quote…to describe the north under the Starks). Furthermore, GRRM admits that he also uses “a hint” (or a lot) of his imagination in some worldbuilding, so he wasn’t directly inspired by real life (you could say the same for places inspired by fictional works such as Lovecraft’s or Moorcock’s, such as the island of Leng and the Patrimony of Hyrkoon). All I can do is guess the inspirations and draw parallels if he hasn’t said anything.

The North: a really big Northern England/Southern Scotland, maybe some Icelandic, due to the Wall being inspired by a trip to Hadrian’s wall

The Riverlands: maybe Brittany, a frequently fought over and invaded part of modern North France

The Iron Islands: I wrote a meta on how they are very stereotypical Vikings with some hints of depth; there’s also some Scottish Isles influence

The Vale: maybe Wales, due to the sheep herding and mountains?

The Westerlands: southern/Middle England, considering how the Reyne-Tarbeck rebellion is modeled after the Montfort rebellion

The Reach: Central/Southern France with its emphasis on chivalry, except with Paris included

The Stormlands: Northern Spain, for its frequent clashes with the Reach and Dorne, its stony shores and excellent sailors

Dorne: Southern Spain, due to the conquest and rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, the silk veils, the Tabernas desert, the variety of phenotypes. GRRM has mentioned other countries as influence

Keep in mind that I’m limited by knowledge of other regions, as well as by space (I’m sure if I had enough time, I could go over some of the other details GRRM took from history)

A note about Essos under the cut:

The places of Essos are easier to identify as one culture/region because he doesn’t spend as much time building them (that most of them include what Americans would consider people of color makes his thin sketching that much worse); significant to my interest in ASOIAF is the Kingdom of the Three Daughters; despite some Greek names (and that lazy “gonfaloniere” Fire and Blood included in Lys, which is just an untranslated title for a communal office in Florence), Tyrosh is obviously based on Tyre, Lebanon, which was famed for its dye; Myr is based on Sidon, the oldest of the Phoenician city-states and famed for glass making; and Lys, despite the Rogares being uninspired Diet Medicis, is Cyprus, the Island of Love (it was the legendary birthplace of Aphrodite), a fertile island, that had the most Greek influence of the three due to its proximity. All three were governed by judges aka magisters called shofret, Sidon and Tyre were United for a time, they lived off of trade, and though there were old families the common people also had a voice in government. Further east the cultural comparisons get more obvious, with Magical!Crete as Qarth, Scythians as Sarnori, China as Yi Ti…GRRM’s worldbuilding is not his strong point, but as long as he wasn’t focusing on it (instead of letting it eat up too much of his writing), I could deal and just focus on his interesting characters.

[weaselandfriends]

I'll come at this with another perspective, one I've been mulling in my head for some time: I think the novelistic tradition of the two countries these authors come from had a major influence on shaping their respective worldviews, even in the context of them both being bigoted.

Harry Potter is, in all its flaws, quintessentially a British novel. Its tone and many details of its plot (most obviously the poor orphan boy rags to riches tale) hearken, via previous British children's authors like Roald Dahl, to the titan at the heart of the British novel: Charles Dickens. My take here will be biased because I really dislike Dickens, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but Dickens is the ultimate middle-class status quo champion. The Dickensian world is a social satire where there are only wicked individuals (who are obviously marked as wicked by their odious appearances and comedically villainous names), never wicked systems. His little orphan rags-to-riches tales, which Rowling apes devotedly, all profess the same worldview Rowling does: It's bad when "good" people are poor/unfortunate, but they'll eventually rise to the top with the help of luck (God's providence) and a little savoir-faire. Dickens is capable of depicting wretched living conditions of children in misery and posit that the solution to this problem is that the good children among them should be adopted by a good rich person.

At the same time Dickens was writing, America received its own foundational novel, one of the first American novels to receive widespread publication: Nathanial Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, which is a blistering criticism of America's Puritan past. The heroine, Hester Prynne, is victimized by society itself, and can only find salvation by escaping it entirely, into capital-N Nature. (Perhaps due to the slowness of information transfer in the pre-electronic era, Hawthorne, though Dickens' contemporary, draws much more on the preceding British literary mode, Romanticism.) There is no "good Puritan" who adopts Hester (or her daughter Pearl) at the end, saving them from their fate; ultimately, Hester and Pearl leave American entirely, moving back to Europe, a move that is made possible not by society's charity, but by the death of Hester's villainous husband and her weak-willed, hypocritical lover.

Which leads us to the other aspect of American literature worth noting, its outward-looking focus. America, considered a cultural backwater compared to Europe until after WWII (after Lovecraft's death), produced many authors and artists who looked outward, past their own society. Hawthorne's contemporary Herman Melville, though not appreciated in his lifetime, is the most striking example of this, but the list includes Hawthorne himself (who moved back to Europe later in life and wrote his last novels about Europe), Henry James (moved to Europe), Ernest Hemingway (only has one minor novel even set in America), T.S. Eliot (moved to Europe), Gertrude Stein (moved to Europe), and many others. Those authors not abandoning American society altogether were frequently influenced by the nation's Civil War, a conflict that necessarily forced them to grapple with an innate failure of their society and call blisteringly for major reform. This includes authors writing both before the war (Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, and many other authors of slave narratives intended to spur abolitionist feeling) and those who grappled with the South's institutionalized racism after the war (Mark Twain, William Faulkner).

Meanwhile, Dickens has only one novel that looks outside the country he lived in his entire life, A Tale of Two Cities. The Wikipedia article on which has this revealing quote about it, from Jorge Borges:

Dickens lived in London. In his book A Tale of Two Cities, based on the French Revolution, we see that he really could not write a tale of two cities. He was a resident of just one city: London.

This is a little unfair to British literature. (Please do not take my opinions here as incontrovertible fact, I really dislike British novels on the whole.) Wilkie Collins, a major Victorian novelist contemporaneous to Dickens, has an excellent interrogation of British imperialism in his mystery novel The Moonstone, which depicts British colonialists as looting thugs and plays on its readership's pre-conceived biases to make them (falsely) suspect the dangerous-seeming Indian immigrants as the culprits, when the true villain is a rather ordinary product of British high society. The novel ends with the Indian immigrants enacting their vengeance on the villain, and returning to India with the religiously-significant moonstone that the colonialists originally stole from them. (I highly recommend The Moonstone if you like the style of Victorian novels but want something far more cognizant and critical of Victorian imperialism.) There's also the works of Thomas Hardy, whose depiction of a raped woman victimized by society in Tess of the D'Urbervilles is similar to Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter. Though, notably, Hardy was an extremely controversial figure in his lifetime, who had to abandon writing novels in favor of poetry after receiving reactionary critical and commercial sentiment. There's also Oscar Wilde, similarly destroyed by the controversy his works (and life) created, who wasn't even English, but like all the best English satirists, actually Irish.

Of course, I can't forget to mention the most famous English novel critical of imperialism, The Heart of Darkness, which was also not written by an English person, but rather a Pole.

Ultimately, bringing this back to the original point, the dominant figure of the British novel was inward-looking and status quo-upholding, compared to an American novelistic tradition far more popularly critical of its own society. It makes sense, then, why Rowling writes the way she does, fundamentally and unquestioningly accepting the status quo, and Lovecraft writes the way he does, concerned that no status quo possibly exists, that his bigoted beliefs are functionally irrelevant in the face of the unknown, or perhaps it might be more thematically accurate to say, capital-N Nature. (For what are these space aliens of Lovecraft's truly, but an inflated, mythologized concept of a cruel and unfeeling natural world? I know it might be tempting to read Cthulu as a metaphor for an immigrant, but Lovecraft was more than willing to put actual immigrants in his stories and depict them exactly as he wanted.)

I have a half-written essay on France's favorite bigot author, Michel Houellebecq, and his Islamophobic novel Submission, which I really should finish, as it dovetails into a lot of what I talked about here. (Houellebecq is a big fan of Lovecraft. I had intended the second half of my essay to talk about webfic's favorite bigot author, 0hp Lovecraft, whose screen name tells you how he feels about Lovecraft.) Anyway, I'm sorry once more for my bias against English novels, please don't hold it against me.

Thinking about your Harry Potter post from earlier, and something I find interesting when comparing Rowling's work to Lovecraft's is how they come across as opposite sides of the same bigoted coin. Like, reading Harry Potter, you get the sense Rowling unquestionably believes what she was taught growing up was a universal law akin to gravity. The greater Wizarding world and the status of wizards as top dogs overseeing races who really are lesser isn't just 'good', it is fact.

Now compare that to Lovecraft's work. Not only is the status quo, the idea that man (or Lovecraft's narrow idea of 'man') is the top dog destined the be the noble guardian of the lesser races, bought into question, the idea that this status quo is just a frail illusion is the crux of many of his stories! Many stories involve the white male protagonist going mad simply for realizing just how much bigger the world is than his narrow worldview. The fact his alien races have agency also helps

Well yes, rowling wrote childrens books witch clearly delineated ontollogical good and evil, with forces of good that are almost predestined to triumph over evil. A world where love can save lives, where truth and justice prevail and where evil is selfdefeating.

Lovecraft wrote horror stories that were downright nihilistic, where nothing is sacred and where there is no law that says the world has to be on net good or just.

And this ever so slightly step closer to an honest understanding of the world relative to rowling set him in a position where he could take his bigoted views of the world and at the very least question how sacred and immutable and undexatigable they are. He can atleast admit that the universe itself does not seem to care about white races or brown races, about christian values or about western civilization. That there is no god or law of the universe that will make sure these things triumph. And that is already a great concession to make. To admit that ones own values are ultimatly meaningless and tiny and absurd when confronted with the terrible incomprensibility of the cosmos. Of course because he still cares about race and about western civilization he considers all this an almost unbearable tragedy

But even that is a level of introspection i feel rowling was never capable of

[theliterarywolf]

Ya wanna know the really sad ironic thing about Lovecraft Country? The original novel, which was written by a white guy mind you, ended with the main black characters alive. It even ends on a pretty cathartic note where they all laugh in the racist shithead’s face and ride off into the sunset. The show, heralded by a black woman, ends with killing all three of the main black characters. I still can’t wrap my head around why the fuck they decided to fuck with the ending like that

See, I didn't even -- Actually, can we talk about this because I just opened Twitter upon coming home from work to see someone quote-retweeting a post from one of the showrunners talking about 'Here's some stuff from the series bible. Wish we had more time to bring it to the screen'...

And it's apparently a chart of the US where, in the canceled upcoming seasons, the country was divided by race. Like, not even racial tensions causing divides, like the country literally segregated into parts based on race under names like 'Tribal Nations of the West' (fuck the Native Americans who lived on the East Coast I guess???), 'Whitelands' (fuck the people of color who live in upper Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and more am I right?), the 'New Negro Republic'--

Am... Am I having a fucking stroke, who okayed thi---

And the 'Jefferson Commonwealth'.

I think the person who quote-retweeted the post initially said it best: 'Wasn't this show supposed to be about HP Lovecraft fiction?'

The more I heard about this show and the more I see from people on Twitter who defend it, it's like the race theory answer to The Handmaid's Tale. Just with even less tact. And, even worse, 1. If you wanted to tell stories like this, why did you have to bring Lovecraft into it? Especially if you can't think about him without going 'CAAAAAAAT', why would you involve him whatsoever?

"Oh, but it shows people fighting against the real monsters in the world: racist white men!"

Forgive me, I have to go on a Nostalgia Critic-style rant here. *deep breath*

Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, Fuck you! FUCK YOU!

FUCK!

YOU!

I am SO beyond sick! And Tired! Of every black horror production having to relate to The Struggle (TM) or 'racism/ are the real monsters'. I just want to see black and African characters fight demons or explore ancient, cursed entities! I'm a Nigerian-American woman living in the U.S.! I have seen racism, I have experienced racism at the hands of white people, black people, Asians, Hispanic, whathaveyou. I know how much racism fucking SUCKS!

However, when I watch a horror production with primarily black or African characters, I don't want to be smacked upside the head with the pimp-hand of 'Hey, racism fucking sucks! Did you know that racism fucking SUCKS?!' If I want to have a reminder of how much racism sucks, I can go watch any number of documentaries dealing with real life moments in history (in fact, the two documentaries that Netflix used to have on the LA Riots used to be some of my favorites).

But I just want horror... To be horror. And if you are supposedly taking influence from someone who, racist as their beliefs at one point in their life was, primarily focused on cosmic-horror?

I want to see FUCKING COSMIC HORROR! For fuck's sake!

[local-redhead-bookworm]

Tag 10 people you want to get to know better!

Tagged by @cherry-sorry thanks for thinking of me!

Relationship status: happily single. I’ve been on exactly two dates in my life and both were by accident.

Favorite color: green. It’s a very calming color, and I honestly blame my LOTR phase for the fact that I got so much green clothing

Song(s) stuck in your head: 1985 by Bo Burnham, Rock Me Amadeus by Falco, If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man) by Bonnie Tyler, Lent by Autoheart, Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love by Van Halen, that one opening riff in Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne, and Blasphemous Rumours by Depeche Mode.

Dream trip: ooh, how to pick? Probably the UK to see a bunch of castles, Transylvania because I’m a Gothic lit nerd, or Japan just because it seems really cool.

Last book you read: I’m currently working on The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black. I read the rest of the Cruel Prince trilogy and loved them.

Last book you enjoyed reading: I’m enjoying Queen of Nothing, but I read Jane Eyre just before this, and I really liked it. I’m a sucker for a good Gothic novel, what can I say?

Last book you hated reading: several short stories by H. P. Lovecraft. I thought people were over-exaggerating his racism, but they were unfortunately not. He also had only two named female characters in all seven short stories that I read? So like, basically he was afraid of anyone that wasn’t a rich white man.

Favorite thing to cook/bake: probably chocolate chip muffins, but I make an omelette for breakfast almost every day.

Favorite craft to do in your free time: I have way too many hobbies. Probably drawing, but I’m also learning guitar.

Most niche dislike: when people will leave a really great quote but not give the source. I wanna know where the quote came from, darn it!!

Opinion on circus(es): I went to two when I was younger because my local library had a program where if we read for so many hours we got a free ticket. They were fun then, but they always seemed like there was way too much going on.

Do you have a sense of direction: if I’m in the country, yes. In the city? Absolutely not, I’m lost as a goose in a matter of minutes.

Tagging: @bloodytapesred @iwigyousub @andromedaspark @emeraldwitches @ocmjfcosplayer @hargrove-mayfields @zaypay @kazzyboy @lmsreputation @imsodishy (don’t feel pressured to do this if you don’t want to, and if you already have, that’s fine too!)

[lokiondisneyplus]

NEVER BEFORE has the exposition been so engaging.

In Loki’s season finale, “For All Time. Always,” Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his multiversal “variant” Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) arrive at the end of their journey to meet the puppet master of all puppet masters. He doesn’t have a name; he has several. We only know him as He Who Remains, played by a mischievous Jonathan Majors. With bites of an apple and sips of tea, He Who Remains embodies all the tropes of a quintessential comic book mastermind. He isn’t imposing. He isn’t demonic nor robotic. His lair, with its scenic window view of the edge of time, is tastefully decorated with a radiant fireplace.

As Sylvie points out, he’s just a man. “Flesh and blood,” he replies.

In all 45 minutes of the Loki finale, Jonathan Majors undeniably stole the series in his role that comic savvy readers know is, or will be, the villain Kang the Conqueror. (Listen closely for “conqueror” uttered twice.) What’s more: The role exists purely to dump comically complicated explanations about timelines and the multiverse, playing devil’s advocate to the protagonist’s proclamations of free will and fate. But through the irresistible charisma of Majors, He Who Remains succeeds in defiance of his thankless functions.

WHO IS HE WHO REMAINS?

Best Quote: “You know you can't get to the end until you've been changed by the journey.” Known For: Showing up out of nowhere The Scene-Stealing Episode: Season 1, Episode 6, “For All Time. Always” (Loki) Super Power: Knowing More than you think, Knowing less than you expect Their Scientific Element: Neon. Like a neon sign, He Who Remains signals what’s ahead while coming and going. Walk-up Song: “My Ordinary Life” by The Living Tombstone

A genuine surprise at the end of Loki, Majors’ involvement is juicy regardless of one’s grasp of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its campaign for dominance of the cultural consciousness. For most, he was nothing more than a pleasant weirdo at the end of a strange saga. For the hardcore, however, he was a jaw-dropping surprise, and proof the future of the MCU is now.

In 2020, when he was killing it in the HBO series Lovecraft Country, a pulp horror set during Jim Crow, Majors was reported to join the MCU as Kang, a nemesis to the Fantastic Four (yet to join the MCU themselves) in the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. It was all quiet on the Kang front until rumors of a surprise debut for Kang bubbled in the fringe spaces of fandom. Then came the end of Loki, with Majors’ Kang/He Who Remains sitting legs akimbo in a regal purple robe. It was like he was waiting for us the whole time.

There’s too much about the comic origins of Kang to succinctly recap. All you need to know is casting Majors was an unusual choice. Normally depicted as a purple alien, it would have been typical for Marvel Studios to cast a white British thespian and cover him in prosthetics. But you don’t cover an actor like Jonathan Majors in polyurethane.

The actor, whose career began in 2017 with the ABC series When We Rise — where Majors played real-life gay activist Ken Jones — has quickly earned acclaim for his talents. He’s academically trained (he graduated with a MFA from Yale in 2016) but a difficult upbringing involving abandonment by his military father and arrests for shoplifting in his youth provides a rare kind of insight into the human condition. Even when he’s acting as someone from the 31st century, he can still play grounded and worldly.

Majors is an expressionistic performer capable of communicating the unspoken words and feelings between lines and beats. He demonstrated this aplenty in films like 2019’s The Last Black Man in San Francisco, a dreamy ode to changes both internal and external, and in Da 5 Bloods, as the son of a traumatized Vietnam veteran. In this year’s The Harder They Fall, a masculine Majors plays real-life ex-slave turned cowboy Nat Love, a role that demands absolute cool in his character’s feverish quest for revenge.

Majors was born to play He Who Remains. Who else can accomplish verbalizing out-there concepts like timelines and Multiversal Wars and still feel human? “Flesh and blood,” remember.

A guarantee of the MCU is that characters are never gone. Even his “death” at the hands of Sylvie doesn’t feel close to an end. He says as much in labored breaths: “See you soon,” like it’s a promise and a threat. And yeah, there’s still a whole Ant-Man sequel for him to star. But like Loki, it’s not hard to imagine a spin-off chronicling the Multiversal War. While the idea of a show replete with Jonathan Majors clones is absurdly amusing, one can’t deny Majors could pull it off.

The surprise introduction of He Who Remains is peak TV in 2021. Marvel Studios is serious about the interconnected relationship between its movies and TV shows. Now, audiences have too. The barriers separating movie and TV are a thing of the past. He Who Remains is its future. Even when he’s brought to an end, one can’t shake the feeling they’ve only seen the beginning.

LOKI IS STREAMING NOW ON DISNEY+.

SCENE STEALERS is a countdown that salutes the unforgettable small-screen characters of the year. He Who Remains is #11.